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Oscar Williams
Oscar Williams was the pen name of Oscar Kaplan (December 29, 1900 - October 10, 1964), an American poet and anthologist. Life Williams was born in Letychiv, Ukraine, the son of Jewish parents Mouzya Kaplan and Chana Rapoport. He immigrated with his family to New York City at the age of 7. Among his influential anthologies are Master Poems of the English Language, Immortal Poems of the English Language, The Pocket Book of Modern Verse, and the Little Treasury Poetry Series, which were used in colleges and high schools around the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s. During his lifetime, anthologies he edited sold more than 2 million copies, a nearly unheard amount for books of poetry. Many of his anthologies are still being republished today. & Oscar Williams, circa 1950. Courtesy National Library of Wales.]] He was a friend and promoter of poets like Dylan Thomas and George Barker. Among Williams's poems are "Revenge," "Poem," "Poet," "The Last Supper," "I Sing an Old Song," and "The City's Face". Williams and his poet-artist wife, Gene Derwood, sponsored an annual $15,000 poetry award which bears their name. They lived in a penthouse of an office building on Water Street (near Wall Street) in Manhattan. In his later years, Oscar Williams' home served as a mecca for young poets. . Asked how he chose the poems used in his anthologies, he said, "How do you pick one girl to marry? In poetry it's divine polygamy. Generally, when a poem stays with me a long time that poem delivers the goods". Throughout his life, Williams eschewed his Jewish background. He was always mysterious about his origins and was buried by an Episcopal church. He was survived by a son, Strephon Kaplan-Williams, who was raised in boarding schools and hardly ever interacted with his parents.biographical information from William's son Strephon His papers are housed at the Indiana University Lilly Library.WILLIAMS, OSCAR MSS. Writing Williams' own poetry is not highly regarded by critics, though he published several volumes during his lifetime, and is not nearly as accomplished as the poetry of his wife, the unjustly neglected Gene Derwood. Shopping for Meat in Winter is a typical Williams poem, with its urban theme, forced rhyme, and attempts at replicating the neo-Romanticism of the New Apocalypse. Shopping for Meat in Winter What lewd, naked and revolting shape is this? A frozen oxtail in the butcher's shop Long and lifeless upon the huge block of wood On which the ogre's axe begins chop chop. The sun like incense fumes on the smoky glass, The street frets with people, the winter wind Throws knives, prices dangle from shoppers' mouths While the grim vegetables, on parade, bring to mind The great countryside bathed in golden sleep, The trees, the bees, the soft peace everywhere – I think of the cow's tail, how all summer long It beat the shapes of harps into the air. Publications Poetry *''The Golden Darkness''. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press (Yale Series of Younger Poets), 1921; New York: AMS Press, 1971. *''Hibernalia''. Brooklyn, NY: Lantern, 1938. *''The Man Coming toward You: A book of poems''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1940. *''That's All That Matters''. New York: Creative Age Press, 1945. *''Gypsy Blue: First draft''. 1950.Gypsy Blue : First Draft Paperback – 1950, Amazon.com. Web, Apr. 26, 2015. *''Selected Poems''. New York: Scribner, 1947; New York: October House, 1964. Edited *''New Poems, 1940: An anthology of American and British verse''. New York: Yardstick Press, 1941. *''New Poems, 1943: An anthology of American and British verse''. New York: Howell, Soskin, 1943. *''New Poems, 1944: An anthology of American and British verse, with a selection of poems from the Armed Forces''. New York: Howell, Soskin, 1944. *''The War Poets: An anthology of the war poetry of the 20th century''. New York: John Day, 1945 *''A Little Treasury of Modern Poetry: English and American''. New York: Scribner, 1946; London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1947. *''A Little Treasury of Great Poetry: English & American, from Chaucer to the present day''. New York: Scribner, 1947. *''A Little Treasury of American Poetry: The chief poets from colonial times to the present day''. New York: Scribner, 1948; revised, 1952. *''A Little Treasury of British Poetry: The chief poets from 1500 to 1950''. New York: Scribner, 1951. *''Immortal Poems of the English Language; British and American poetry from Chaucer's time to the present day''. New York: Washington Square Press, 1952. *''The Pocket Book of Modern Verse: English and American poetry of the last hundred years from Walt Whitman to Dylan Thomas''. New York: Washington Square Press, 1954. *''An Anthology of American Verse: From colonial days to the present''. Cleveland, OH: World, 1955; **also published as The New Pocket Anthology of American Verse: From colonial days to the present. New York: Washington Square Press, 1972.. *''The Silver Treasury of Light Verse, from Geoffrey Chaucer to Ogden Nash''. New York: New American Library (Signet), 1957. *''F.T. Palgrave's Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems''. New York: New American Library (Mentor), 1953; centennial edition, 1961. *''The Mentor Book of Major American Poets: From Edward Taylor and Walt Whitman to Hart Crane and W.H. Auden''. New York: New American Library (Mentor), 1965. *''The Mentor Book of Major British Poets: From William Blake to Dylan Thomas''. New York: New American Library (Mentor), 1963. *''Master Poems of the English Language: Over one hundred poems together with introductions by leading poets and critics of the English-speaking world''. New York: Trident Press, 1966. *''The Major Metaphysical Poets of the Seventeenth Century: John Donne, George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, and Andrew Marvell: An anthology'' (edited with Edwin Honig). New York: Washington Square Press, 1968. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Oscar Williams, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 29, 2015. See also *List of U.S. poets References *Chapin, David A. and Weinstock, Ben, The Road from Letichev: The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish community in Eastern Europe, Volume 2. ISBN 0-595-00667-1 iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2000, p. 547-549. Notes } External links ;Poems *Oscar Williams 1899-1964 at the Poetry Foundation *Williams in Poetry: A magazine of verse, 1912-1922: "To One Unknown," "O My Love," "My Greatness," "Mood," "Chiaroscuros," "Revenge," "There Was a Time," "Clouds and Waves," "Cobwebs," "Grey," "Rains," "The Golden Fleece," "Because," "Motes," "The Subway is Lit," "The Bubble," "The Return" ;About *Web bio-essays by his son Strephon Kaplan-Williams * Category:American poets Category:Anthologists Category:1900 births Category:1964 deaths Category:People from Letychiv Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets Category:English-language poets